Spray apparatus or implements are generally equipped with electrodes, which are connected to a high-voltage source and generate an electrostatic field to electrostatically charge the coating material. The spray apparatus of the invention can also be provided with such high-voltage electrodes. The coating material can be a liquid or a powder. Liquid coating material, for example, serves to coat car bodies. Powdered coating material can also be used to coat car bodies, but is currently used predominantly to coat other objects or structures, for example wall and ceiling elements, housings of household appliances, and the like. Spray apparatus of this type are generally referred to as "guns." They can have the form of hand-held guns or the form of spray devices which are attached to a carrier. By means of the carrier, they can preferably be moved in different directions relative to the objects to be coated. The carrier can be the arm of a robot, for example. To achieve good coating qualities, it is necessary that the spray apparatus not be able to wiggle in its movement.
From DE-AS 24 46 022, spray apparatus for electrostatically coating objects with liquid or powdered coating material is known. It contains a needle valve arranged axially with respect to the spray direction, which acts together with a valve seat directly upstream from a spray opening, by means of which seat, liquid coating material can flow to the spray opening. The spray apparatus has horn-like projections on diametrically opposite sides of the sprayed coating material downstream from the spray opening. In these horn-like projections, high-voltage electrodes are housed in air outlet channels, from which air flows outwardly so as to shape the atomized coating material spray. U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,838 shows a spray apparatus which has a rotating bell instead of a spray opening to atomize liquid coating material. Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,465 shows an electrostatic spray apparatus for spray-coating objects with powdered coating material. This spray apparatus contains a high-voltage generator and electrodes for electrostatically charging the powder. The spray device can be optionally provided with a handle for manual operation, or be attached to a carrier, for example, a robot arm.